The Dursleys and Weasleys Read: Harry Potter and the Sorcer's Stone
by fantasybookworm2012
Summary: The Dursleys stay with the Weasleys and read the books. The GT with come in later. Adopted from Mischief Managed79.
1. Chapter 1

The Dursleys had just arrived at the Weasleys' Great Aunt Muriel's house, the plan had gone wrong they, Aunt Petunia, Uncle Vernon, and Dudley, were going to have to stay with the Weasleys.

Although the Weasleys did not like the arrangement there was nothing they could do, so Arthur had tried to get Vernon to explain some muggle things (''fascinating, fascinating'' Arthur would say when Dudley had finished explaining rubber ducks, Vernon had given a disgusted kind of hoarse grunt and walked out of the room towards their bedroom)

Molly meanwhile was having a much easier time, although at first Petunia seemed to follow Dudley about everywhere in fear that he would wander off and bump into the twins who had taken it upon themselves to cause as much mischief to the Dursleys as quite humanly possible.

The only thing that was wrong was that Ginny seemed to want to avoid everyone, on several occasions Dudley had tried talking to her but she always nodded and went back to her room. Fred and George warned Dudley the third time he tried (they didn't seem to like the idea of Dudley being friendly towards there sister so much).

Two days later everyone (without Ginny who was in her room and Aunt Muriel who was in Diagon alley with her house-elf Nools) was in the living room when there was a flash of red light, a puff of black smoke and a bang like a gunshot. They coughed for a few minutes before Ginny came downstairs and said,

''What was all that about?''

''Hmmm,'' Arthur examined the cause of noise, it was a box full of books, but they weren't normal books. Fred picked the smallest one up and read out loud,

_"__**Harry Potter and**__**the Sorcerer's Stone**__"_

''I never thought a lot of people knew about the sorcerer's stone'' George said and Fred nodded his head in agreement. Everyone looked at the book when finally Molly noticed a note spellotaped to the side,

''There's a note'' she picked it up and read aloud ''_Dear Weasleys and Dursleys, we think you should read these books it will explain a lot and maybe just give you lot some info on the golden trio_"_ Dudley rudely interrupted,

''Who's the golden trio?"

'It's what they were calling Harry, Ron, and Hermione," Arthur replied.

Dudley started to speak again to ask who Ron and Hermione were but was cut off by Fred who made an impatient noise and George saying,

''And the note says?"

Molly continued,

"_-all will come clear in the end. - __H.J.P, H.J.G, R.B.W, G.M.W, N.F.L, L.L.L."_

''Who are they'' Petunia asked eyeing the book suspiciously.

''I don't think we are meant to find out yet seeing as they only gave their initials'' Molly replied

''Alright then-''

''Let's get reading''

''Blimey, never thought I'd be saying that''

Molly narrowed her eyes, Arthur sniggered but stopped when he noticed the glare he was getting from Molly and Ginny smiled.

''Which order do we go in'' Dudley asked uncertainly ''if we read them'' he continued

''I reckon we should start with the smallest'' Fred said

''Right you are Fred, I'll start'' George grinned.

**A/N: This is a story adopted from ****Mischief-Managed79.**

**I might want to bring in the Golden Trio later on but I need to work out how I'm going to get through the first book when I have no idea where my copy of it is. Please review.**


	2. Reading The Boy Who Lived

Fred was about to read when there was a knock on the door.

"Who could that be?" Ginny asked in a low whisper. Molly got up and looked through the peep hole it looked like Harry, Ron, and Hermione. The house was under so many charms that it could only be the real Golden Trio. Molly let them in and hugged them in glee that they were all still alive. They walked into the living room and Harry, Ron, and Hermione caught sight of the Dursleys sitting there. Ron and Hermione stepped in front of Harry protectively.

"What are you doing here?" Hermione practically growled at them. The Dursleys looked dumbfounded.

"Just because you can do magic doesn't mean you can disrespect us," Petuinia said.

"You think that I care about that?"

"Hermione, calm down," Ron told her. Hermione calmed slightly but was still shooting daggers at the Dursleys.

"Good timing, guys," Fred said. "We're about to read a book."

"You two, willing read a book? Is it about pranking?" Hermione asked.

"No. But, it sounded interesting."

"What is it?" Hermione asked.

"'Mione, you've probably read it more than once," Ron said.

"Doubt it," Ginny said.

"Why?" Hermione asked suspiciously and Ginny handed her the book. Hermione gasped.

"Harry, you aren't going to like this," Hermione said. "It's about you."

"Bloody fantastic," Harry grumbled.

"Mate, you should've seen that coming. Somebody was bound to write a book about you eventually," Ron said.

Harry sat down and Ron and Hermione sat on either side of him.

"Who's reading?" Harry asked.

"Me," Fred said. Harry nodded and Fred began.

**CHAPTER ONE - THE BOY WHO LIVED.**

**Mr. and Mrs. Dursley, of number four, Privet Drive, were proud to say that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much.**

"What is_" Fred stated.

"The fun in that?" George finished.

**They were the last people you'd expect to be involved in anything strange or mysterious, because they just didn't hold with such nonsense.**

"Nonsense?" Hermione asked glaring at the Dursleys.

**Mr. Dursley was the director of a firm called Grunnings, which made drills.**

"What?" all of the Weasleys asked.

"It's a type of muggle tool," Hermione explained. "And I'm not trained to explain this to you. Ask the Muggle Studied professor I'm sure she'd know."

"Must everything revolve around school?" Ron asked.

"No," Hermione said. "But, I am not qualified to explain this in wizarding terms."

"You think you would be," Ron muttered.

"Fred keep reading," Harry advised and Fred continued.

**He was a big, beefy man with hardly any neck, although he did have a very large mustache. **

Everyone except for the Dursleys and Harry laughed. Harry had to hold his laughter in .

**Mrs. Dursley was thin and blonde and had nearly twice the usual amount of neck, which came in very useful as she spent so much of her time craning over garden fences, spying on the neighbors. **

**The Dursleys had a small son called Dudley and in their opinion there was no finer boy anywhere.**

**The Dursleys had everything they wanted, but they also had a secret, and their greatest fear was that somebody would discover it. **

"My guess is you've never faced anything actually scary," George joked.

**They didn't think they could bear it if anyone found out about the Potters.**

"What?" all of the older Weasleys erupted in outrage.

**Mrs. Potter was Mrs. Dursley's sister, but they hadn't met for several years; in fact, Mrs. Dursley pretended she didn't have a sister**

"My sibling get on my nerves but not that much," Ginny said.

**Because her sister and her good-for-nothing husband were as unDursleyish **

"UnDurseyish is not a word," Hermione said. "And did you just insult my best friend?"

"What is it with this child?" Petuinia asked. "She acts like such a know-it-all."

Ron looked mortified.

"Ron, its fine, as if I care what some person says."

**as it was possible to be. The Dursleys shuddered to think what the neighbors would say if the Potters arrived in the street. **

"If they said anything rude I'd hex them into oblivion," Hermione said."

"Harry, I think we've corrupted Hermione," Ron said worriedly.

"Yeah, 'Mione I think you need to get a hold on your anger issues," George said jokingly.

**The Dursleys knew that the Potters had a small son, too, but they had never even seen him. This boy was another good reason for keeping the Potters away; they didn't want Dudley mixing with a child like that.**

"A child like _what_," Hermione and Ginny both spat.

"A freak!" Petuinia yelled.

"Don't insult Harry!" they both yelled.

"Ginny, Hermione, calm down!" Harry said. The two calmed a little but had looks that said they weren't going to drop it.

**When Mr. and Mrs. Dursley woke up on the dull, gray Tuesday our story starts, there was nothing about the cloudy sky outside to suggest that strange and mysterious things would soon be happening all over the country. **

"Which means that something strange and mysterious is about to happen," Hermione deducted.

**Mr. Dursley hummed as he picked out his most boring tie for work, **

"Why the most" George started and his twin finished,

"Boring one?"

**and Mrs. Dursley gossiped away happily as she wrestled a screaming Dudley into his high chair.**

**None of them noticed a large, tawny owl flutter past the window.**

"Why would you notice, it's normal," Ron said.

"Not in the muggle world," Hermione said with feigned patience.

**At half past eight, Mr. Dursley picked up his briefcase, pecked Mrs. Dursley on the cheek, and tried to kiss Dudley good-bye but missed, because Dudley was now having a tantrum and throwing his cereal at the walls. "Little tyke," **

"Encouraging that?" Mrs. Weasley asked.

**Chortled Mr. Dursley as he left the house. He got into his car and backed out of number four's drive.**

**It was on the corner of the street that he noticed the first sign of something peculiar - a cat reading a map.**

**For a second, Mr. Dursley didn't realize what he had seen - then he jerked his head around to look again. There was a tabby cat standing on the corner of Privet Drive, but there wasn't a map in sight. What could he have been thinking of? It must have been a trick of the light. Mr. Dursley blinked and stared at the cat. It stared back. As Mr. Dursley drove around the corner and up the road, he watched the cat in his mirror. It was now reading the sign that said Privet Drive - no, looking at the sign; cats couldn't read maps or signs. **

"Unless they're an animagus," Hermione stated. "In which case they would be able to read those things perfectly."

"What the bloody hell is an animaginus?" Vernon asked angrily.

"Animagus," Hermione corrected. "And it is a witch ore wizard that can turn into an animal."

"Know-it-all," Dudley taunted.

"She is not a know-it-all," Ron said. "She actually care about what grades she gets."

"Hermione, how did these two get you to not go to Hogwarts for a year?" Ginny asked.

"Couldn't have gone if I wanted to," Hermione said referring to being a muggle-born.

**Mr. Dursley gave himself a little shake and put the cat out of his mind. **

"Easy to forget a cat?" Ron asked. "I can't do that."

"That's because you though Crooshanks was evil," Hermione said.

"Well, I had proof."

"False proof," Hermione countered back.

"Still proof."

"Book," Fred said an continued reading when the two fell silent.

**As he drove toward town he thought of nothing except a large order of drills he was hoping to get that day. **

"Boring much?" Ron asked.

"Even I couldn't think about drills all day," Hermione said.

"That's saying something," Ron said.

**But on the edge of town, drills were driven out of his mind by something else. As he sat in the usual morning traffic jam, he couldn't help noticing that there seemed to be a lot of strangely dressed people about. People in cloaks.**

**Mr. Dursley couldn't bear people who dressed in funny clothes - the getups you saw on young people! He supposed this was some stupid new fashion. He drummed his fingers on the steering wheel and his eyes fell on a huddle of these weirdos standing quite close by. **

"Stop insulting people!" Hermione exploded. "Goodness, I've met nicer death eaters."

"What?" Dudley asked.

"Trust me, you don't want to meet them."

**They were whispering excitedly together. Mr. Dursley was enraged to see that a couple of them weren't young at all; why, that man had to be older than he was, and wearing an emerald-green cloak!**

"What's odd about that?" Mr. Weasley asked.

"I believe these books are written in a muggle perspective," Hermione stated. "Otherwise, it wouldn't be considered so odd."

**The nerve of him! But then it struck Mr. Dursley that this was probably some silly stunt - these people were obviously collecting for something... yes, that would be it. **

"Collecting?" Mr. Weasley asked.

"I'll explain when we finish reading," Hermione stated.

**The traffic moved on and a few minutes later, Mr. Dursley arrived in the Grunnings parking lot, his mind back on drills.**

**Mr. Dursley always sat with his back to the window in his office on the ninth floor. If he hadn't, he might have found it harder to concentrate on drills that morning. He didn't see the owls swooping past in broad daylight, though people down in the street did; **

"Owls always come out during daylight," Ron stated.

"Not in the muggle world," Hermione said.

**they pointed and gazed open-mouthed as owl after owl sped overhead. Most of them had never seen an owl even at nighttime.**

**Mr. Dursley, however, had a perfectly normal, owl-free morning. He yelled at five different people. He made several important telephone calls and shouted a bit more. **

"Shouting isn't good for you," Hermione said.

**He was in a very good mood until lunchtime, when he thought he'd stretch his legs and walk across the road**

**To buy himself a bun from the bakery.**

**He'd forgotten all about the people in cloaks until he passed a group of them next to the baker's. He eyed them angrily as he passed. He didn't know why, but they made him uneasy. This bunch were whispering excitedly, too, and he couldn't see a single collecting tin. It was on his way back past them, clutching a large doughnut in a bag, that he caught a few words of what they were saying.**

**"The Potters, that's right, that's what I heard yes, their son, Harry" Mr. Dursley stopped dead.**

"Not literally," Hermione said seeing th effaces of most of the Weasleys.

**Fear flooded him. He looked back at the whisperers as if he wanted to say something to them, but thought better of it.**

"Why didn't you, dad?" Dudley asked.

**He dashed back across the road, hurried up to his office, snapped at his secretary not to disturb him, seized his telephone, and had almost finished dialing his home number when he changed his mind. He put the receiver back down and stroked his mustache, thinking... no, he was being stupid. **

**Potter wasn't such an unusual name. He was sure there were lots of people called Potter who had a son called Harry. Come to think of it, he wasn't even sure his nephew was called Harry. **

"Honestly?" Hermione asked. "His name is easy to remember!"

**He'd never even seen the boy. It might have been Harvey. Or Harold.**

"No, it's Harry," Ginny said. "His name isn't that hard to remember."

**There was no point in worrying Mrs. Dursley; she always got so upset at any mention of her sister. He didn't blame her - if he'd had a sister like that... **

**but all the same, those people in cloaks...**

**He found it a lot harder to concentrate on drills that afternoon and when he left the building at five o'clock, he was still so worried that he walked straight into someone just outside the door.**

**"Sorry," **

**He grunted, as the tiny old man stumbled and almost fell.**

**It was a few seconds before Mr. Dursley realized that the man was wearing a violet cloak. He didn't seem at all upset at being almost knocked to the ground. On the contrary, his face split into a wide smile and he said in a squeaky voice that made passersby stare, "Don't be sorry, my dear sir, for nothing could upset me today! Rejoice, for You-Know-Who has gone at last! Even Muggles like yourself should be celebrating, this happy, happy day!" And the old man hugged Mr. Dursley around the middle and walked off. **

"Who would be that careless?" Hermione asked. "Even we knew when to stay away from things at Hogwarts."

"We may have known but we still seemed to get into things a lot," Ron said.

**Mr. Dursley stood rooted to the spot. He had been hugged by a complete stranger. He also thought he had been called a Muggle, whatever that was.**

"A muggle is a non-magical person born to non-magical parents," Hermione recited.

**He was rattled. He hurried to his car and set off for home, hoping he was imagining things, which he had never hoped before, because he didn't approve of imagination.**

Fred and George looked appalled.

"How can you not_"

"Approve of imagination?"

**As he pulled into the driveway of number four, the first thing he saw - and it didn't improve his mood - was the tabby cat he'd spotted that morning. It was now sitting on his garden wall. He was sure it was the same one; it had the same markings around its eyes.**

**"Shoo!" said Mr. Dursley loudly. The cat didn't move. It just gave him a stern look. **

"I wonder if that McGonagall?" Ron mused.

"Could be," Hermione said. "And it's Professor McGonagall."

**Was this normal cat behavior? Mr. Dursley wondered. Trying to pull himself together, he let himself into the house. He was still determined not to mention anything to his wife.**

**Mrs. Dursley had had a nice, normal day. She told him over dinner all about Mrs. Next Door's problems with her daughter and how Dudley had learned a new word ("Won't!").**

"Because that's such a great thing," Hermione said sarcastically.

**Mr. Dursley tried to act normally. When Dudley had been put to bed, he went into the living room in time to catch the last report on the evening news: "And finally, bird-watchers everywhere have reported that the nation's owls have been behaving very unusually today. Although owls normally hunt at night and are hardly ever seen in daylight, there have been hundreds of sightings of these birds flying in every direction since sunrise. Experts are unable to explain why the owls have suddenly changed their sleeping pattern." The newscaster allowed himself a grin.**

**"Most mysterious. And now, over to Jim McGuffin with the weather. Going to be any more showers of owls tonight, Jim." "Well, Ted," **

**said the weatherman, "I don't know about that, but it's not only the owls that have been acting oddly today. Viewers as far apart as Kent, Yorkshire, and Dundee have been phoning in to tell me that instead of the rain I promised yesterday, they've had a downpour of shooting stars! **

"Removing protective charms because of the end of the first war," Hermione supplied quietly.

**Perhaps people have been celebrating Bonfire Night early - it's not until next week, folks! But I can promise a wet night tonight." Mr. Dursley sat frozen in his armchair.**

**Shooting stars all over Britain. Owls flying by daylight. Mysterious people in cloaks all over the place. And a whisper, a whisper about the Potters...**

**Mrs. Dursley came into the living room carrying two cups of tea. It was no good. He'd have to say something to her. He cleared his throat nervously. "Er - Petunia, dear - you haven't heard from your sister lately, have you?"**

**As he had expected, Mrs. Dursley looked shocked and angry. After all, they normally pretended she didn't have a sister.**

**"No," she said sharply. "Why?"**

**"Funny stuff on the news," Mr. Dursley mumbled. "Owls... shooting stars... and there were a lot of funny-looking people in town today..." **

**"So?" snapped Mrs. Dursley.**

**"Well, I just thought... maybe... it was something to do with... you know... her crowd." **

"Her crowd?" Hermione asked. "You realize that there are many muggle-raised witches and wizards right? There are also many people who aren't accepting of this fact. I can't sit and listen to this!"

Hermione stood up to leave.

"Let's at least finish this book," Ron said. "Then we can go back to wherever we need to be."

Hermione huffed then sat back down.

**Mrs. Dursley sipped her tea through pursed lips. Mr. Dursley wondered whether he dared tell her he'd heard the name "Potter." He decided he didn't dare. Instead he said, as casually as he could, "Their son - he'd be about Dudley's age now, wouldn't he?" **

**"I suppose so," said Mrs. Dursley stiffly.**

**"What's his name again? Howard, isn't it?"**

**"Harry. Nasty, common name, if you ask me." **

"I like it," Ginny said.

**"Oh, yes," said Mr. Dursley, his heart sinking horribly. "Yes, I quite agree." He didn't say another word on the subject as they went upstairs to bed.**

**While Mrs. Dursley was in the bathroom, Mr. Dursley crept to the bedroom window and peered down into the front garden. The cat was still there.**

**It was staring down Privet Drive as though it were waiting for something.**

**Was he imagining things? Could all this have anything to do with the Potters? If it did... if it got out that they were related to a pair of - well, he didn't think he could bear it.**

**The Dursleys got into bed. Mrs. Dursley fell asleep quickly but Mr. Dursley lay awake, turning it all over in his mind. His last, comforting thought before he fell asleep was that even if the Potters were involved, there was no reason for them to come near him and Mrs. Dursley. The Potters knew very well what he and Petunia thought about them and their kind... He couldn't see how he and Petunia could get mixed up in anything that might be going on - he yawned and turned over - it couldn't affect them...**

**How very wrong he was.**

"Not the first time," Hermione grumbled.

**Mr. Dursley might have been drifting into an uneasy sleep, but the cat on the wall outside was showing no sign of sleepiness. It was sitting as still as a statue, its eyes fixed unblinkingly on the far corner of Privet Drive. It didn't so much as quiver when a car door slammed on the next street, nor when two owls swooped overhead. In fact, it was nearly midnight before the cat moved at all.**

**A man appeared on the corner the cat had been watching, appeared so suddenly and silently you'd have thought he'd just popped out of the ground. The cat's tail twitched and its eyes narrowed.**

"Who apparated?" Ron wondered aloud.

**Nothing like this man had ever been seen on Privet Drive. He was tall, thin, and very old, judging by the silver of his hair and beard, which were both long enough to tuck into his belt. He was wearing long robes, a purple cloak that swept the ground, and high-heeled, buckled boots.**

**His blue eyes were light, bright, and sparkling behind half-moon spectacles and his nose was very long and crooked, as though it had been broken at least twice. This man's name was Albus Dumbledore.**

**Albus Dumbledore didn't seem to realize that he had just arrived in a street where everything from his name to his boots was unwelcome**

"He probably knew and just didn't care," Mrs. Weasley said.

**He was busy rummaging in his cloak, looking for something. But he did seem to realize he was being watched, because he looked up suddenly at the cat, which was still staring at him from the other end of the street. For some reason, the sight of the cat seemed to amuse him. He chuckled and muttered, "I should have known." **

**He found what he was looking for in his inside pocket. It seemed to be a silver cigarette lighter. He flicked it open, held it up in the air, and clicked it. The nearest street lamp went out with a little pop. **

**He clicked it again - the next lamp flickered into darkness. Twelve times he clicked the Put-Outer, until the only lights left on the whole **

**street were two tiny pinpricks in the distance, which were the eyes of the cat watching him. If anyone looked out of their window now, even beady-eyed Mrs. Dursley, they wouldn't be able to see anything that was happening down on the pavement. Dumbledore slipped the Put-Outer back inside his cloak and set off down the street toward number four, where he sat down on the wall next to the cat. He didn't look at it, but after a moment he spoke to it.**

**"Fancy seeing you here, Professor McGonagall." He turned to smile at the tabby, but it had gone.**

**Instead he was smiling at a rather severe-looking woman who was wearing square glasses exactly the shape of the markings the cat had had around its eyes. She, too, was wearing a cloak, an emerald one. Her black hair was drawn into a tight bun. She looked distinctly ruffled.**

**"How did you know it was me?" she asked.**

"No other cat sits like that," Ron said.

**"My dear Professor, I've never seen a cat sit so stiffly." **

**"You'd be stiff if you'd been sitting on a brick wall all day," said Professor McGonagall.**

**"All day? When you could have been celebrating? I must have passed a dozen feasts and parties on my way here." Professor McGonagall sniffed angrily.**

**"Oh yes, everyone's celebrating, all right," she said impatiently.**

**"You'd think they'd be a bit more careful, but no - even the Muggles have noticed something's going on. It was on their news." She jerked her head back at the Dursleys' dark living-room window. "I heard it. Flocks of owls... shooting stars... Well, they're not completely stupid. They were bound to notice something. Shooting stars down in Kent - I'll bet that was Dedalus Diggle. He never had much sense." **

**"You can't blame them," said Dumbledore gently. "We've had precious little to celebrate for eleven years." **

"Hopefully it won't last that long this time," Mrs. Weasley said.

**"I know that," said Professor McGonagall irritably. "But that's no reason to lose our heads. People are being downright careless, out on the streets in broad daylight, not even dressed in Muggle clothes, swapping rumors." She threw a sharp, sideways glance at Dumbledore here, as though hoping he was going to tell her something, but he didn't, so she went on. "A fine thing it would be if, on the very day You-Know-Who seems to have disappeared at last, the Muggles found out about us all. I suppose he really has gone, Dumbledore." **

**"It certainly seems so," said Dumbledore. "We have much to be thankful for. Would you care for a lemon drop?" **

**"A what?" **

"Don't even ask," Hermione said. "It's a muggle sweet."

**"A lemon drop. They're a kind of Muggle sweet I'm rather fond of." **

**"No, thank you," said Professor McGonagall coldly, as though she didn't think this was the moment for lemon drops. "As I say, even if You-Know-Who has gone -" **

"Even if it's in the book don't say the name out loud," Mr. Weasley said.

"Why?" Harry asked.

"Tracking charm on the name. Just if they use the name say name."

"Alright."

**"My dear Professor, surely a sensible person like yourself can call him by his name. All this 'You- Know-Who' nonsense - for eleven years I have been trying to persuade people to call him by his proper name: name" **

**Professor McGonagall flinched.**

"She doesn't anymore," Ron pointed out.

**but Dumbledore, who was un-sticking two lemon drops, seemed not to notice. "It all gets so confusing if we keep saying 'You-Know-Who.' I have never seen any reason to be frightened of saying name's name."**

**"I know you haven't, said Professor McGonagall, sounding half exasperated, half admiring. "But you're different. Everyone knows you're the only one You-Know- oh, all right, name, was frightened of."**

**"You flatter me," said Dumbledore calmly. "name had powers I will never have." **

**"Only because you're too - well - noble to use them." **

**"It's lucky it's dark. I haven't blushed so much since Madam Pomfrey told me she liked my new earmuffs."**

**Professor McGonagall shot a sharp look at Dumbledore and said, "The owls are nothing next to the rumors that are flying around. You know what everyone's saying. About why he's disappeared. About what finally stopped him." It seemed that Professor McGonagall had reached the point she was most anxious to discuss, the real reason she had been waiting on a cold, hard wall all day, for neither as a cat nor as a woman had she fixed Dumbledore with such a piercing stare as she did now. It was plain that whatever "everyone" was saying, she was not going to believe it until Dumbledore told her it was true. Dumbledore, however, was choosing another lemon drop and did not answer.**

**"What they're saying," she pressed on, "is that last night Voldemort turned up in Godric's Hollow. He went to find the Potters. The rumor is that Lily and James Potter are - are - that they're - dead. " Dumbledore bowed his head.**

**Professor McGonagall gasped. "Lily and James... I can't believe it... I didn't want to believe it... Oh, Albus..." **

**Dumbledore reached out and patted her on the shoulder. "I know... I know..." he said heavily.**

**Professor McGonagall's voice trembled as she went on. "That's not all. They're saying he tried to kill the Potter's son, Harry. But - he couldn't. He couldn't kill that little boy. No one knows why, or how, but they're saying that when he couldn't kill Harry Potter, Voldemort's power somehow broke - and that's why he's gone."**

**Dumbledore nodded glumly.**

**"It's - it's true." faltered Professor McGonagall. "After all he's done... all the people he's killed... he couldn't kill a little boy. It's just astounding... of all the things to stop him... but how in the name of heaven did Harry survive."**

**"We can only guess," said Dumbledore. "We may never know." **

**Professor McGonagall pulled out a lace handkerchief and dabbed at her eyes beneath her spectacles. **

**Dumbledore gave a great sniff as he took a golden watch from his pocket and examined it. It was a very odd watch. It had twelve hands but no numbers; instead, little planets were moving around the edge. **

**It must have made sense to Dumbledore, though, because he put it back in his pocket and said, "Hagrid's late. I suppose it was he who told you I'd be here, by the way." **

**"Yes," said Professor McGonagall. "And I don't suppose you're going to tell me why you're here, of all places." **

**"I've come to bring Harry to his aunt and uncle. They're the only family he has left now."**

**"You don't mean - you can't mean the people who live here." cried Professor McGonagall, jumping to her feet and pointing at number four. "Dumbledore - you can't. I've been watching them all day. You couldn't find two people who are less like us. And they've got this son - I saw him kicking his mother all the way up the street, screaming for sweets. Harry Potter come and live here!" **

**"It's the best place for him," said Dumbledore firmly. "His aunt and uncle will be able to explain everything to him when he's older. I've written them a letter." **

**"A letter." repeated Professor McGonagall faintly, sitting back down on the wall. "Really, Dumbledore, you think you can explain all this in a letter. These people will never understand him! He'll be famous - a legend - I wouldn't be surprised if today was known as Harry Potter day in the future **

"It isn't, right?" Harry said.

"No," Ron assured him.

"Thank Merlin."

**- there will be books written about Harry**

"We're reading one," Harry muttered.

**- every child in our world will know his name!" **

"Unfortunately."

**"Exactly," said Dumbledore, looking very seriously over the top of his half-moon glasses. "It would be enough to turn any boy's head. Famous before he can walk and talk! Famous for something he won't even remember! Can't you see how much better off he'll be, growing up away from all that until he's ready to take it."**

"Depends on how you look at it," Harry said.

**Professor McGonagall opened her mouth, changed her mind, swallowed, and then said, "Yes - yes, you're right, of course. But how is the boy getting here, Dumbledore." She eyed his cloak suddenly as though she thought he might be hiding Harry underneath it**

**"Hagrid's bringing him."**

**"You think it - wise - to trust Hagrid with something as important as this." **

**"I would trust Hagrid with my life," said Dumbledore.**

"Good. Because he's one of the nicest people I've ever know," Harry said.

**"I'm not saying his heart isn't in the right place," said Professor McGonagall grudgingly, "but you can't pretend he's not careless. He does tend to - what was that." **

**A low rumbling sound had broken the silence around them. It grew steadily louder as they looked up and down the street for some sign of a headlight; it swelled to a roar as they both looked up at the sky - and a huge motorcycle fell out of the air and landed on the road in front of them.**

**If the motorcycle was huge, it was nothing to the man sitting astride it. He was almost twice as tall as a normal man and at least five times as wide. He looked simply too big to be allowed, and so wild - long tangles of bushy black hair and beard hid most of his face, he had hands the size of trash can lids, and his feet in their leather boots were like baby dolphins. In his vast, muscular arms he was holding a bundle of blankets.**

**"Hagrid," said Dumbledore, sounding relieved. "At last. And where did you get that motorcycle."**

**"Borrowed it, Professor Dumbledore, sir," said the giant, climbing carefully off the motorcycle as he spoke. "Young Sirius Black lent it to me. **

**I've got him, sir." **

**"No problems, were there?" **

**"No, sir - house was almost destroyed, but I got him out all right before the Muggles started swarmin' around. He fell asleep as we was flyin' over Bristol."**

"So, you liked flying before Hogwarts," Ron joked.

"Different, and I didn't remember that."

**Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall bent forward over the bundle of blankets. Inside, just visible, was a baby boy, fast asleep. Under a tuft of jet-black hair over his forehead they could see a curiously shaped cut, like a bolt of lightning.**

**"Is that where -." whispered Professor McGonagall.**

**"Yes," said Dumbledore. "He'll have that scar forever."**

"Helpful if I could hide it," Harry said.

**"Couldn't you do something about it, Dumbledore." **

**"Even if I could, I wouldn't. Scars can come in handy. I have one myself above my left knee that is a perfect map of the London Underground. **

"Okay," Hermione stated. "Are all wizarding scars shaped like things?"

**Well - give him here, Hagrid - we'd better get this over with." Dumbledore took Harry in his arms and turned toward the Dursleys' house.**

**"Could I - could I say good-bye to him, sir." asked Hagrid. He bent his great, shaggy head over Harry and gave him what must have been a very scratchy, whiskery kiss. Then, suddenly, Hagrid let out a howl like a wounded dog.**

**"Shhh!" hissed Professor McGonagall, "you'll wake the Muggles!"**

**"S-s-sorry," sobbed Hagrid, taking out a large, spotted handkerchief and burying his face in it. "But I c-c-can't stand it - Lily an' James dead - an' poor little Harry off ter live with Muggles -" **

Everyone except for the Dursley bowed their heads for a minute in respect and most of the adults got a little teary eyed.

**"Yes, yes, it's all very sad, but get a grip on yourself, Hagrid, or we'll be found," Professor McGonagall whispered, patting Hagrid gingerly on the arm as Dumbledore stepped over the low garden wall and walked to the front door. He laid Harry gently on the doorstep, took a letter out of his cloak, tucked it inside Harry's blankets, and then came back to the other two.**

"He left you on a doorstep?" Mrs. Weasley asked.

"Apparently," Harry stated.

**For a full minute the three of them stood and looked at the little bundle; Hagrid's shoulders shook, Professor McGonagall blinked furiously, and the twinkling light that usually shone from Dumbledore's eyes seemed to have gone out.**

**"Well," said Dumbledore finally, "that's that. We've no business staying here. We may as well go and join the celebrations."**

**"Yeah," said Hagrid in a very muffled voice, "I'll be takin' Sirius his bike back. G'night, Professor McGonagall - Professor Dumbledore, sir." Wiping his streaming eyes on his jacket sleeve, Hagrid swung himself onto the motorcycle and kicked the engine into life; with a roar it rose into the air and off into the night.**

**"I shall see you soon, I expect, Professor McGonagall," said Dumbledore, nodding to her. Professor McGonagall blew her nose in reply.**

**Dumbledore turned and walked back down the street. On the corner he stopped and took out the silver Put-Outer. He clicked it once, and twelve balls of light sped back to their street lamps so that Privet Drive glowed suddenly orange and he could make out a tabby cat slinking around the corner at the other end of the street. He could just see the bundle of blankets on the step of number four.**

**"Good luck, Harry," he murmured.**

**He turned on his heel and with a swish of his cloak, he was gone.**

**A breeze ruffled the neat hedges of Privet Drive, which lay silent and tidy under the inky sky, the very last place you would expect astonishing things to happen. Harry Potter rolled over inside his blankets without waking up. One small hand closed on the letter beside him and he slept on **

**not knowing he was special, not knowing he was famous, not knowing he would be woken in a few hours' time by Mrs. Dursley's scream as she opened the front door to put out the milk bottles, nor that he would spend the next few weeks being prodded and pinched by his cousin Dudley... He couldn't know that at this very moment, people meeting in secret all over the country were holding up their glasses and saying in hushed voices: "To Harry Potter - the boy who lived!"**

"Really?" Harry asked. "Not okay with that."

"Yes," Mrs. Weasley said. "Sorry."

**A/N: Okay, so it took some time to find something to copy off for the book but I'll check out the actual book and be able to type it. Sorry for the "Voldemort"/ "Name" thing but, it's true.**


	3. Reading the Vanishing Glass

"Who wants to read?" Fred asked. "The chapter's called 'The Vanishing Glass."

"Can I see that?" Harry asked. Fred handed Harry the book and Harry began scanning the first page. He saw that it mentioned his cupboard and attempted to skip it. Harry flipped to the fourth chapter and was about to begin when Hermione stopped him.

"Harry, you skipped a whole two chapters!" she objected.

"They're not important just boring, dry descriptions."

"Harry, we are going to read the entire book."

"But, Hermione. It'll take too long."

"Harry James Potter, we are reading the whole book now either you put it on the right page and read or I will."

"You can read," Harry muttered and Hermione began reading.

**Nearly ten years had passed since the Dursleys had woken up to find their nephew on the front step, but Privet Drive had hardly changed at all. **

"Honestly?" Ginny asked. "Send the twins and it will be fun."

**The sun rose on the same tidy front gardens and lit up the brass number four on the Dursleys' front door; it crept into their living room, which was almost exactly the same as it had been on the night when Mr. Dursleys had seen that fateful news report about the owls. Only the photographs on the mantelpiece really showed how much time had passed.**

**Ten years ago, there had been lots of pictures of what looked like a large pink beach ball wearing different-coloured bonnets.**

The Weasleys and Hermione tried and failed to stifle laughs, from years of practice Harry didn't laugh and the Weasleys were eyeing him suspicious of why he didn't want to read the chapters he had attempted to skip.

**- but Dudley Dursley was no longer a baby, and now the photographs showed a large blond boy riding his first bicycle, on a carousel at the fair, playing a computer game with his father, being hugged and kissed by his mother.**

**The room held no sign at all that another boy lived in the house, too**

"Harry, you _must_ be there," Hermione stated. Harry looked at the ground and didn't respond.

**Yet Harry Potter was still there, asleep at the moment, but not for long. His Aunt Petunia was awake and it was her shrill voice that made the first noise of the day.**

"So you're there?" Hermione double checked and Harry nodded.

**"Up! Get up! Now!" Harry woke with a start. His aunt rapped on the door again.**

**"Up!" she screeched. Harry heard her walking toward the kitchen and then the sound of the frying pan being put on the stove. He rolled onto his back and tried to remember the dream he had been having. It had been a good one. There had been a flying motorcycle in it. He had a funny feeling he'd had the same dream before.**

"Harry, when we came and got you your room was on the second floor, you must have really good hearing," Ron said. Harry looked down at the ground again, silently begging that the book didn't mention the cupboard under the stairs.

**His aunt was back outside the door. "Are you up yet." she demanded.**

"Give him time to get out of bed," Hermione said.

**"Nearly," said Harry.**

**"Well, get a move on, I want you to look after the bacon. And don't you dare let it burn, I want everything perfect on Duddy's birthday." Harry groaned.**

"Harry, you had to cook?" Hermione asked. Harry nodded subtly but didn't say anything.

**"What did you say." his aunt snapped through the door.**

"Nothing," Ginny growled.

**"Nothing, nothing..." Dudley's birthday - how could he have forgotten. Harry got slowly out of bed and started looking for socks. He found a pair under his bed and, after pulling a spider **

Ron shuddered, "Don't mention them."

**off one of them, put them on.**

**Harry was used to spiders,**

"How can anyone be used to them?"

**because the cupboard under the stairs was full of them, **

Hermione read ahead and gasped.

"If that sentence is finished the way I think it will be I will be hexing them into oblivion," Ginny said.

"Guys, I'm going to go use the bathroom. You can read while I'm gone," Harry said standing up to leave.

"No, you don't Harry. Sit back down. We are going to read these books and you have to read them too."

**and that was where he slept.**

"I am going to kill them!" Ginny exploded. "How dare someone treat someone as nice as Harry that way!"

"Normally, I'd tell you were over-reacting but I agree with you, Ginny. But, no child should have to deal with that!" Hermione added. Hermione got up and slapped Vernon. Ron looked slightly appalled and Harry had paid little attention because he was ashamed of it.

"Hermione, Ginny, calm down. I'm fine," Harry said.

"Harry, even if you are, which I doubt you are you never admit when you aren't fine, it's still cruel," Hermione said.

**When he was dressed he went down the hall into the kitchen. The table was almost hidden beneath all Dudley's birthday presents. It looked as though Dudley had gotten the new computer he wanted, not to mention the second television and the racing bike.**

**Exactly why Dudley wanted a racing bike was a mystery to Harry, as Dudley was very fat and hated exercise - unless of course it involved punching somebody. **

"Harry, that better not mean you," Hermione said and Harry looked down confirming Hermione's sucpicions that it meant him.

**Dudley's favourite punching bag was Harry, but he couldn't often catch him. Harry didn't look it, but he was very fast.**

**Perhaps it had something to do with living in a dark cupboard, but Harry had always been small and skinny for his age.**

**He looked even smaller and skinnier than he really was because all he had to wear were old clothes of Dudley's, and Dudley was about four times bigger than he was. **

**Harry had a thin face, knobbly knees, black hair, **

**and bright green eyes. **

**He wore round glasses held together with a lot of Scotch tape because of all the times Dudley had punched him on the nose. **

"** The only thing Harry liked about his own appearance was a very thin scar on his forehead that was shaped like a bolt of lightning. **

**He had had it as long as he could remember, and the first question he could ever remember asking his Aunt Petunia was how he had gotten it.**

**"In the car crash when your parents died," she had said.**

"You lied to him about how his own parents died?" Hermione asked outraged glaring at the Dursleys.

"Hermione, it doesn't matter I was a little kid," Harry said.

"No, Harry. It's not okay. You are one of my best friends, I care about what happens to you just accept it."

"Hermione, it happened when I was a little kid, stop."

**"And don't ask questions."**

"How'd you expect him to learn?" Hermione asked. "Well, now I know why you never asked questions in class."

**Don't ask questions - that was the first rule for a quiet life with the Dursleys.**

**Uncle Vernon entered the kitchen as Harry was turning over the bacon.**

**"Comb your hair!" he barked, by way of a morning greeting.**

"Not going to work," Ron said. "It's impossible."

**About once a week, Uncle Vernon looked over the top of his newspaper and shouted that Harry needed a haircut. **

"Won't work," Fred and George said together.

**Harry must have had more haircuts than the rest of the boys in his class put together, but it made no difference, his hair simply grew that way - all over the place.**

**Harry was frying eggs by the time Dudley arrived in the kitchen with his mother. Dudley looked a lot like Uncle Vernon. He had a large pink face, not much neck, small, watery blue eyes, and thick blond hair that lay smoothly on his thick, fat head. Aunt Petunia often said that Dudley looked like a baby angel - Harry often said that Dudley looked like a pig in a wig.**

**Harry put the plates of egg and bacon on the table, which was difficult as there wasn't much room. Dudley, meanwhile, was counting his presents. His face fell.**

**"Thirty-six," he said, looking up at his mother and father. "That's two less than last year."**

"That's ridiculous," Hermione said. "Your spoiled brat, Dudley."

"Harry, I think the last time Hermione let this much anger loose was third year."

Harry nodded.

"Malfoy deserved it," Hermione said. "But, if I had my way I'd jinx these three oafs into the next millinia."

**"Darling, you haven't counted Auntie Marge's present, see, it's here under this big one from Mommy and Daddy." **

**"All right, thirty-seven then," said Dudley, going red in the face.**

**Harry, who could see a huge Dudley tantrum coming on, began wolfing down his bacon as fast as possible in case Dudley turned the table over.**

**Aunt Petunia obviously scented danger, too, because she said quickly, "And we'll buy you another two presents while we're out today. How's that, popkin. Two more presents. Is that all right''**

**Dudley thought for a moment. It looked like hard work. Finally he said slowly, "So I'll have thirty ... thirty..." **

"Harry, how old was he when this happened?"

"Eleven?" Harry questioned himself he was sure but he had always been timid.

"An eleven year old who can't even count?" Hermione asked. "

**"Thirty-nine, sweetums," said Aunt Petunia.**

**"Oh." Dudley sat down heavily and grabbed the nearest parcel. "All right then."**

**Uncle Vernon chuckled. "Little tyke wants his money's worth, just like his father. 'Atta boy, Dudley!" He ruffled Dudley's hair.**

"How can you encourage that?" Hermione asked.

**At that moment the telephone rang and Aunt Petunia went to answer it while Harry and Uncle Vernon watched Dudley unwrap the racing bike, a video camera, a remote control air plane, sixteen new computer games, and a VCR.**

"What?" the entire Weasley family asked.

"Harry, looks like we need to do a muggle-studies thing," Hermione stated.

"No, thanks-you," Harry refused politely.

**He was ripping the paper off a gold wristwatch when Aunt Petunia came back from the telephone looking both angry and worried.**

**"Bad news, Vernon," she said. "Mrs. Figg's broken her leg. She can't take him." She jerked her head in Harry's direction.**

"He can hear you you know?" Ginny stated.

"Honestly, the way you treated him," Hermione added glaring at the Durslyes. "No wonder he always stayed at Hogwarts or with Ron when he could."

**Dudley's mouth fell open in horror, but Harry's heart gave a leap. Every year on Dudley's birthday, his parents took him and a friend out for the day, to adventure parks, hamburger restaurants, or the movies. Every year, Harry was left behind with Mrs. Figg, a mad old lady who lived two streets away. Harry hated it there. The whole house smelled of cabbage and Mrs. Figg made him look at photographs of all the cats she'd ever owned.**

"Mrs. Figg?" Ron asked. "She'd the one_"

Ron was cut off by Harry's subtle nod.

**"Now what." said Aunt Petunia, looking furiously at Harry as though he'd planned this.**

"How in Merlin can you blame an eleven year old for planning that?" Ginny fumed.

"Ten," Harry corrected quietly.

"That's worse!" Ginny yelled.

**Harry knew he ought to feel sorry that Mrs. Figg had broken her leg, but it wasn't easy when he reminded himself it would be a whole year before he had to look at Tibbles, Snowy, Mr. Paws, and Tufty again.**

**"We could phone Marge," Uncle Vernon suggested.**

"Isn't that the one who_" Ron started and Hermione eyed him seeing that Harry wasn't going to talk about magic or incidents, or at all for that matter, with his realatives in the room.

**"Don't be silly, Vernon, she hates the boy."**

**The Dursleys often spoke about Harry like this, as though he wasn't there - or rather, as though he was something very nasty that couldn't understand them, like a slug. **

**"What about what's-her-name, your friend - Yvonne." **

**"On vacation in Majorca," snapped Aunt Petunia.**

**"You could just leave me here," Harry put in hopefully (he'd be able to watch what he wanted on television for a change and maybe even have a go on Dudley's computer).**

"That's why you wanted to stay?" Uncle Vernon bellowed "You little ungrateful brat."

Ron and Hermione both stood up and shielded Harry unsure of what would happen if they didn't.

**Aunt Petunia looked as though she'd just swallowed a lemon. "And come back and find the house in ruins." she snarled.**

**"I won't blow up the house," said Harry, but they weren't listening.**

**"I suppose we could take him to the zoo," said Aunt Petunia slowly, "...and leave him in the car..."**

"What is he a dog?" Hermione snapped. "Give me a minute. Harry, Ron, I need to talk to both of you, now."

"Wait, why?" Ron asked.

"I have no idea where I'm going and there is no way we're leaving him alone with those bastards," Hermione stated in a whisper to Ron.

Harry got up and followed his two friends.

"Harry, why din't you tell us about the cupboard?"

Harry looked ashame but didn't say anything.

"You can trust us you know that right?" Hermione asked.

"Of course," Harry stated. "It just never came up."

"Harry, you should've told someone if you needed help."

"I didn't need it though," Harry said. "I couldn't tell anyone then, I didn't really have friends."

They went back in and continued reading.

**"That car's new, he's not sitting in it alone..." **

**Dudley began to cry loudly. In fact, he wasn't really crying - it had been years since he'd really cried - but he knew that if he screwed up his face and wailed, his mother would give him anything he wanted.**

**"Dinky Duddydums,**

**don't cry, Mummy won't let him spoil your special day!" she cried, flinging her arms around him.**

**"I... don't... want... him... t-t-to come!" Dudley yelled between huge, pretend sobs. "He always sp- spoils everything!" He shot Harry a nasty grin through the gap in his mother's arms.**

**Just then, the doorbell rang - "Oh, good Lord, they're here!" said Aunt Petunia frantically - and a moment later, Dudley's best friend, Piers Polkiss, walked in with his mother. Piers was a scrawny boy with a face like a rat. He was usually the one who held people's arms behind their backs while Dudley hit them. **

"More people for me to hex," Ginny grumbled. "Harry do you have a list of people who mistreated you?"

"No," Harry said quietly in response to his friend's odd request.

**Dudley stopped pretending to cry at once.**

"Honestly," Hermione interuppted herself. "Can't have your _friends_ see you cry. Wow, the amount of times Ron and Harry have seen me cry are countless and I know I can tell them everything."

"She means everything," Ron groaned. "Hermione, we did not need to talk about Hogwarts:A History for three hours straight.

"It was a good book," Hermione protested. "Besides it was that or speculate about what adventure we'd have and that isn't good for our mental health."

**Half an hour later, Harry, who couldn't believe his luck, was sitting in the back of the Dursleys' car with Piers and Dudley, on the way to the zoo for the first time in his life. His aunt and uncle hadn't been able to think of anything else to do with him, but before they'd left, Uncle Vernon had taken Harry aside.**

**"I'm warning you," he had said, putting his large purple face right up close to Harry's, "I'm warning you now, boy - any funny business, anything at all - and you'll be in that cupboard from now until Christmas."**

"I swear if he did that I will _kill_ him," Hermione fumed.

"I was at Hogwarts with Ron," Harry stopped his friend.

"Knew that," Hermione stated embarresed.

**"I'm not going to do anything," said Harry, "honestly."**

**But Uncle Vernon didn't believe him. No one ever did.**

"What about your school teachers?" Hermione asked.

"Theythoughtthesamethingandbe ilevedtehDursleys," Harry muttered quickly then hid is face in his arms.

"What?" Hermione asked.

"They thought the same thing and believed the Dursleys," Harry stated though it was still muffle it was enunciated enough to be understood.

"What about your friends?" Ginny asked.

"Didn't have any."

**The problem was, strange things often happened around Harry and it was just no good telling the Dursleys he didn't make them happen.**

"Didn't you?" Ron asked. Harry nodded.

"They weren't your fault, Harry. It's called accidental magic for a reason," Hermione told him.

**Once, Aunt Petunia, tired of Harry coming back from the barbers looking as though he hadn't been at all, had taken a pair of kitchen scissors and cut his hair so short he was almost bald except for his bangs, which she left "to hide that horrible scar." Dudley had laughed himself silly at Harry, who spent a sleepless night imagining school the next day, where he was already laughed at for his baggy clothes and taped glasses.**

"Speaking of which, Harry you need to get your glasses fixed, agai**n," **Hermione stated and Harry handed her his glasses. "Occulaus Repairo," she added and gave them back to Harry in perfect shape.

**Next morning, however, he had gotten up to find his hair exactly as it had been before Aunt Petunia had sheared it off. He had been given a week in his cupboard for this, even though he had tried to explain that he couldn't explain how it had grown back so quickly.**

"That's ridiculous!" Hermione yelled outraged. "Not only did you have to sleep in there you were forced to stay in their as punishment?"

"Calm down," Harry stated. "It's in the past, you can't change it."

**Another time, Aunt Petunia had been trying to force him into a revolting old sweater of Dudley's (brown with orange puff balls) –**

**The harder she tried to pull it over his head, the smaller it seemed to become, until finally it might have fitted a hand puppet, but certainly wouldn't fit Harry. Aunt Petunia had decided it must have shrunk in the wash and, to his great relief, Harry wasn't punished.**

"You shouldn't have been punished for magic in the first place," Mrs. Weasley stated.

**On the other hand, he'd gotten into terrible trouble for being found on the roof of the school kitchens. Dudley's gang had been chasing him as usual when, as much to Harry's surprise as anyone else's, there he was sitting on the chimney.**

"Please tell me you didn't get in trouble for that," Mrs. Weasley asked tears in her eyes. Harry looked away he had been punished for it but he wasn't going to admit it willingly.

**The Dursleys had received a very angry letter from Harry's headmistress telling them Harry had been climbing school buildings. But all he'd tried to do (as he shouted at Uncle Vernon through the locked door of his cupboard) was jump behind the big trash cans outside the kitchen doors. Harry supposed that the wind must have caught him in mid- jump.**

**But today, nothing was going to go wrong. It was even worth being with Dudley and Piers to be spending the day somewhere that wasn't school, his cupboard, or Mrs. Figg's cabbage-smelling living room.**

"Why not just go for a walk?" Fred asked.

"I wasn't allowed to," Harry whispered.

**While he drove, Uncle Vernon complained to Aunt Petunia. He liked to complain about things: people at work, Harry, the council, Harry, the bank, and Harry were just a few of his favourite subjects. This morning, it was motorcycles.**

**"... roaring along like maniacs, the young hoodlums," he said, as a motorcycle overtook them.**

**I had a dream about a motorcycle," said Harry, remembering suddenly. "It was flying."**

**Uncle Vernon nearly crashed into the car in front. He turned right around in his seat and yelled at Harry, his face like a gigantic beet with a moustache: "MOTORCYCLES DON'T FLY!" Dudley and Piers sniggered.**

**I know they don't," said Harry. "It was only a dream." But he wished he hadn't said anything. If there was one thing the Dursleys hated even more than his asking questions, it was his talking about anything acting in a way it shouldn't, no matter if it was in a dream or even a cartoon - they seemed to think he might get dangerous ideas.**

"So, basically the only person you could confide in was yourself and that's why you always got nervous when you had to talk to teachers?" Ron asked bluntly.

"Ron!" Hermione stated.

"Well, I was trying to figure something out."

Harry nodded to Ron's question just to get the argument over and hope against hope they'd top yelling.

**It was a very sunny Saturday and the zoo was crowded with families. The Dursleys bought Dudley and Piers large chocolate ice creams at the entrance and then, because the smiling lady in the van had asked Harry what he wanted before they could hurry him away, they bought him a cheap lemon ice pop.**

**It wasn't bad, either, Harry thought, licking it as they watched a gorilla scratching its head who looked remarkably like Dudley, except that it wasn't blond.**

**Harry had the best morning he'd had in a long time. He was careful to walk a little way apart from the Dursleys so that Dudley and Piers, who were starting to get bored with the animals by lunchtime, wouldn't fall back on their favorite hobby of hitting him. They ate in the zoo restaurant, and when Dudley had a tantrum because his knickerbocker glory didn't have enough ice cream on top, Uncle Vernon bought him another one and Harry was allowed to finish the first.**

**Harry felt, afterward, that he should have known it was all too good to last.**

**After lunch they went to the reptile house. It was cool and dark in there, with lit windows all along the walls. Behind the glass, all sorts of lizards and snakes were crawling and slithering over bits of wood and stone. Dudley and Piers wanted to see huge, poisonous cobras and thick, man-crushing pythons. Dudley quickly found the largest snake in the place. It could have wrapped its body twice around Uncle Vernon's car and crushed it into a trash can - but at the moment it didn't look in the mood. In fact, it was fast asleep.**

**Dudley stood with his nose pressed against the glass, staring at the glistening brown coils.**

**"Make it move," he whined at his father. Uncle Vernon tapped on the glass, but the snake didn't budge.**

**"Do it again," Dudley ordered. Uncle Vernon rapped the glass smartly with his knuckles, but the snake just snoozed on.**

**"This is boring," Dudley moaned. He shuffled away.**

**Harry moved in front of the tank and looked intently at the snake. He wouldn't have been surprised if it had died of boredom itself - no company except stupid people drumming their fingers on the glass trying to disturb it all day long. It was worse than having a cupboard as a bedroom, where the only visitor was Aunt Petunia hammering on the door to wake you up; at least he got to visit the rest of the house. The snake suddenly opened its beady eyes. Slowly, very slowly, it raised its head until its eyes were on a level with Harry's.**

"Did you just compare yourself to a snake?" Hermione asked. Harry nodded.

**It winked.**

.

**Harry stared. Then he looked quickly around to see if anyone was watching. They weren't. He looked back at the snake and winked, too.**

"Weirdo," Dudley uttered and Ginny got up and punched him.

**The snake jerked its head toward Uncle Vernon and Dudley, then raised its eyes to the ceiling. It gave Harry a look that said quite plainly: "I get that all the time.**

**"I know," Harry murmured through the glass, though he wasn't sure the snake could hear him. "It must be really annoying."**

**The snake nodded vigorously.**

**"Where do you come from, anyway?" Harry asked.**

**The snake jabbed its tail at a little sign next to the glass. Harry peered at it.**

**Boa Constrictor, Brazil.**

**"Was it nice there?" The boa constrictor jabbed its tail at the sign again and Harry read on: This specimen was bred in the zoo. **

**"Oh, I see - so you've never been to Brazil."**

**As the snake shook its head, a deafening shout behind Harry made both of them jump.**

**"DUDLEY! MR. DURSLEY! COME AND LOOK AT THIS SNAKE! YOU WON'T BELIEVE WHAT IT'S DOING!" Dudley came waddling toward them as fast as he could.**

**"Out of the way, you," he said, punching Harry in the ribs.**

Harry winced from the left over pain and Ron and Hermione in sympathy.

**Caught by surprise, Harry fell hard on the concrete floor. What came next happened so fast no one saw how it happened - one second, Piers and Dudley were leaning right up close to the glass, the next, they had leapt back with howls of horror.**

**Harry sat up and gasped; the glass front of the boa constrictor's tank had vanished.**

**The great snake was uncoiling itself rapidly, slithering out onto the floor. People throughout the reptile house screamed and started running for the exits.**

**As the snake slid swiftly past him, Harry could have sworn a low, hissing voice said, "Brazil, here I come... Thanksss, amigo."**

"Polite," Hermione said. "How nice."

**The keeper of the reptile house was in shock.**

**"But the glass," he kept saying, "where did the glass go?"**

**The zoo director himself made Aunt Petunia a cup of strong, sweet tea while he apologized over and over again. Piers and Dudley could only gibber. As far as Harry had seen, the snake hadn't done anything except snap playfully at their heels as it passed, but by the time they were all back in Uncle Vernon's car, Dudley was telling them how it had nearly bitten off his leg, while Piers was swearing it had tried to squeeze him to death. But worst of all, for Harry at least, was Piers calming down enough to say, "Harry was talking to it, weren't you, Harry." **

**Uncle Vernon waited until Piers was safely out of the house before starting on Harry. He was so angry he could hardly speak. He managed to say, "Go - cupboard - stay - no meals," before he collapsed into a chair, and Aunt Petunia had to run and get him a large brandy.**

**Harry lay in his dark cupboard much later, wishing he had a watch. He didn't know what time it was and he couldn't be sure the Dursleys were asleep yet. Until they were, he couldn't risk sneaking to the kitchen for some food.**

"That's why you never get caught?" Ron asked.

"Caught doing what?" Mrs. Weasley demanded.

"Nothing," Ron said haistily. "We'll explain later."

**He'd lived with the Dursleys almost ten years, ten miserable years, as long as he could remember, ever since he'd been a baby and his parents had died in that car crash. He couldn't remember being in the car when his parents had died. Sometimes, when he strained his memory during long hours in his cupboard, he came up with a strange vision: a blinding flash of green light and a burning pain on his forehead.**

"That's all you rembered?" Hermione asked. Harry nodded and Hermione looked at him sorrowfully.

**This, he supposed, was the crash, though he couldn't imagine where all the green light came from. He couldn't remember his parents at all. His aunt and uncle never spoke about them, and of course he was forbidden to ask questions. There were no photographs of them in the house.**

**When he had been younger, Harry had dreamed and dreamed of some unknown relation coming to take him away, but it had never happened; the Dursleys were his only family. Yet sometimes he thought (or maybe hoped) that strangers in the street seemed to know him. Very strange strangers they were, too. A tiny man in a violet top hat had bowed to him once while out shopping with Aunt Petunia and Dudley. **

**After asking Harry furiously if he knew the man, Aunt Petunia had rushed them out of the shop without buying anything. A wild-looking old woman dressed all in green had waved merrily at him once on a bus. A bald man in a very long purple coat had actually shaken his hand in the street the other day and then walked away without a word. The weirdest thing about all these people was the way they seemed to vanish the second Harry tried to get a closer look.**

**At school, Harry had no one. Everybody knew that Dudley's gang hated that odd Harry Potter in his baggy old clothes and broken glasses, and nobody liked to disagree with Dudley's gang.**

"Too bad we didn't go to school with you," Hermione grumbled and Ron nodded his agreement.

"That's the chapter," she stated.

**A/N: The updates on this story will be infrequent but I will finish it. If you do not already know, I have a fictionpress account that is mostly poetry. I would appreciate if someone looked at my works on there. I go by the same pen name.**


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